Friday, December 16, 2016

Genos is a new company that seeks to make a market for personal genetic information--it wants to both sell sequencing services to individuals, and then serve as a broker between the individuals who will still own their own data, and research projects that wish to use those data.

"The latest contender is Genos, a genetic sequencing startup that is unveiling its whole exome-sequencing service today. The hot, shiny object of the industry, this type of next-generation sequencing offers a complete profile of all the expressed genes (the ones that code for proteins) in your genome. While a growing number of targeted genetic testing kits are currently on the market (Color, Myriad, and 23andMe, to name a few), whole exome sequencing produces 50 to 100 times more data.
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"In a first for the personal genomics movement, the company is creating a research pipeline with academic and commercial partners, and paying customers to donate their data. The incentives range between $50 and $200 per project; the first four include a vaccine for breast cancer, a clinical trial for treating lymphoma, and research into prion diseases and common neurological disorders."
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A market for information will have some interesting design issues, and a market for genetic information will have to navigate issues of repugnance as well. I'm on their advisory board.